RMAF 2013

MBL

John Atkinson  |  Oct 22, 2013

I always enjoy visiting the MBL room at a show. Not only I am addicted to the quality of the German company's "Radialstrahler" omnidirectional tweeter, which has a delicacy to its presentation that escapes conventional dome units, but MBL North America's Jeremy Bryan is obsessive about set-up. His RMAF system comprised the MBL 116f speakers ($29,000/pair) driven by a pair of MBL C15 amplifiers ($12,500/pair), a C11 preamplifier ($8800), and a C31 CD player/D/A processor ($9200), all hooked up with WireWorld Eclipse cables. (The electronics are all from MBL's Corona line.)

On Peter Gabriel's "San Jacinto," from his New Blood album, the stereo imaging was deliciously precise, with an extraordinary sense of recorded detail, yet without the stage thrust forward at the listener. I finished my auditioning with a recording of what I took to be a baroque ensemble performing a piece by Telemann that had been made by MBL's chief engineer Jürgen Reis. Again the imaging and detail was superb, until the unmistakable theme of "Happy Birthday" disturbed the feeling of 18th-century authenticity. Humor in music. I loved it!

COMMENTS
K.Reid's picture
Submitted by K.Reid on October 23, 2013 - 6:51pm

By now those in-the-know will acknowledge that MBL is truly one of the most preeminent ultra high end companies in audio reproduction. MBL prides itself in smart engineering, advancing the state-of-the-art and obsessive attention to detail to bring listener and artist closer together.

The radialstrahler drivers are truly state-of-the-art in every way. When I listened the multi-channel event MBL hosted in NYC back in April, I vividly recall not only the sense of power live music presents but the extraordinary detail, sense of space, scale, effortlessness and coherence. I absolutely side with John Atkinson in his observations.

It's amazing how music reproduced in such manner can have a lasting effect on one's conscious. The experience become etched in one's memory. So much so that just the very thought of the experience can permit one to recall the emotion of event. That's saying something. MBL's Corona line is easily and heartily recommended without qualification.

BTW, Jeremy Bryan l-o-v-e-s music and has the uncanny ability to select superb demonstration pieces and is a maestro at getting the best sound possible from hotel rooms with less than great acoustics. Cheers JB and MBL - Truly World Class!

 

 

volvic's picture
Submitted by volvic on October 25, 2013 - 8:08am

Found it strange we hadn't heard from him since there was an MBL posting, but you are right though, music that I have heard through the MBL's is always quite memorable.  Their gear is quite lovely. 

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